New Zealand, the road to Milford Sound

The road to Milford Sound is not some boring “getting-there” exercise – it is the attraction. I’ll admit it was the only place I decided to visit in full lazy mode, on an organised tour. At first, I toyed with the idea of driving myself – after all, I had a rental car. In the end, common sense won. I knew it was one of the last days of my fairly intensive trip, and the route from Queenstown to Milford Sound and back is nearly 300 kilometres each way, which in New Zealand terms means roughly eight hours behind the wheel. And honestly? Best decision ever. I love driving, but to my surprise, by the end of the trip I couldn’t stand the sight of a steering wheel. Instead, I could sink comfortably into my seat, take out my camera and take photos non-stop – because there was plenty to photograph.

The most interesting part of the journey starts in the town of Te Anau. From here, the drive to Milford Sound is supposed to take just over an hour and a half… in theory. In reality? Not a chance. There are so many viewpoints and places worth stopping at that driving straight through is basically impossible.

First stop: Lake Te Anau. A vast lake with crystal-clear water, surrounded by mountains – a perfect teaser of what awaits in Fiordland National Park.

Just a few minutes further on, you suddenly feel like you’ve wandered onto the set of The Lord of the Rings. The legendary Misty Mountains from The Fellowship of the Ring are, in fact, the Eglinton Valley. An endless glacial valley framed by snow-capped peaks – properly epic.

Right next door are the Mirror Lakes – small pools that, in good weather, let you see the mountains upside down 😀

It’s also worth stopping at Lake Gunn – a slightly larger lake, hidden away in the forest.

A bit further along is Falls Creek, an unassuming stop right by the road that’s easy to miss. The waterfall here practically pours onto the tarmac, and a short bridge offers a fantastic viewpoint over the cascades and the intensely blue water.

Next up is Monkey Creek, a mountain stream with crystal-clear water flowing straight from the glaciers.

As you get closer to Milford Sound, the landscape becomes increasingly harsh and alpine – wide valleys give way to sheer granite cliffs, and the air turns noticeably crisper.

And then comes Homer Tunnel, a 1.2-kilometre passage carved by hand through solid rock at an altitude of 945 metres above sea level. Construction took 19 years. No lights. No ventilation. Just pickaxes and stubborn determination. With a bit of luck, or bad luck you might encounter a kea before the tunnel: an alpine parrot that clearly does not recognise the concept of “private property”. These intelligent, slightly unhinged birds treat car parks like their personal playgrounds: rummaging through backpacks, trying to get into cars, and enthusiastically chewing on rubber car parts like windscreen wipers. If a kea takes an interest in your vehicle, the best strategy is to lock the doors quickly and pretend you don’t exist.

After all these attractions, driving through the dark, narrow tunnel feels like a quiet epilogue to the whole adventure. After a road packed with views, waterfalls and parrot-based sabotage, entering the tunnel works like a brief reset – before the landscape hits you again with double force on the other side. Beyond the tunnel lies Cleddau Valley. A steep valley where hairpin bends snake between granite walls and waterfalls spill almost directly onto the road. In winter, the area can be completely impassable due to avalanches; in summer, it’s wet, raw and absolutely spectacular. From here, only a dozen or so kilometres remain to Milford Sound – but every single metre builds the tension. When you finally arrive, it feels like you’ve completed your own personal odyssey.

Milford Sound is not a road you simply “drive”. It’s a road you experience.